I personally find it astounding the number of arts-oriented people i know who will ask me for advice on a computer system, only to tell me a couple months later that they got a Mac. The reason is always one of two things, a) "There isn't any Windows software for what i want to do" or b) "Macs are just better at this stuff." In many of these cases i've had the people sit down at my PC and try things like photo editing, digital painting, recording and editing audio, creating a composition in ACID, making a video in Vegas, creating a technical drawing and printing it out wall-sized on an inexpensive inkjet printer ... etc. and then showing them how little all this stuff costs.

But then someone else "in the biz" will wisper "Mac" into their ears. They'll go look at a demonstration and be told that "Windows doesn't do this! Or this! Or this either! And look at those foolish Windows users spending all that money for such slow ugly computers. And of course, you can't get any good art/design/layout/music/media/photo/video software for those dumb PCs." And the frustrating thing is that these folks believe it. Even after i've shown them how to do everything they want with a Windows PC, all the choices available, and how cheap it is, they still get suckered in.

                  *sigh*

Yeah, i used to be an Apple zealot, 15 years ago when some of their claims were somewhat true. Why anyone wants to pay twice as much now for something half as powerful and only a bare fraction of the available software i'll never understand. I guess it shows how effective Apple's marketing is though. Considering the folks who come in here asking when Vegas or ACID will be available for Mac. They truely don't understand how good and useful Windows on a PC is.

I participate in a Graphic Design forum. That segment used to be mostly Mac's also I believe, but now people are recommending either one (PC or Mac).

Mario

a) With Intel Inside, Apple is now truly a competetive PC company from a performance and strategic perspective

b) With iPod and iTunes Apple is more a true competitor to SONY (could be a de-incentive for an effective Vegas->iPod vision)

...enough possibilities there to make FCP get a second look

Rbartlett, you came very close to what I was trying to say.
Until lately, all of SMS' offerings fit into a cohesive strategy. Movie Studio users could upgrade to Vegas, same with their consumer audio offerings. They are a good way to get to know Sony Media products and hopefully people will consider the pro versions in the future.
As much as I like Mirage, it really doesn't fit I guess. It doesn't use the Vegas codec, if you don't have drawing/animation and paint skills you might want to think twice before buying, and the interface is more like LightWave than Sony (it used to be called Aura when it was marketed by Newtek). Has some great real time features like Vegas though. and some limitations like only 8bit per channel color support for output (internal 16bit per channel color engine though).

It's a very cool and unique app, but those people you refer to in your links are accomplished animators . They could just as easly use traditional pencil, onion paper, animators disk/light table and a scanner to do much of what they do. (Mirage does make it easier and supports multi page scanning and line cleanup btw).


And I never did think all this signalled some sort of crisis at SMS, just changes in direction maybe?

Speaking as a loyal and very happy Vegas/Soundforge user, who hopes the High IQ folks at Madison add full support for the latest DirectX and DirectShow tech sooner rather than later.

Then programs like Mirage could output using the Sony Codec (or what ever directshow codec you choose,) maybe even use the scripting interface to send info to Vegas., maybe even launch Vegas as part of the work flow. (Yes in theory they could use Quicktime, but so what)

Cool thoughts.

"a) With Intel Inside, Apple is now truly a competetive PC company from a performance and strategic perspective

b) With iPod and iTunes Apple is more a true competitor to SONY (could be a de-incentive for an effective Vegas->iPod vision)

...enough possibilities there to make FCP get a second look"

When the mactels finally hit in 2006, you will be able to dual boot between OSX and Windows on the same machine. The machine will still be tied to a Mac but will also be capable of running Windows OSes. That is when I think a lot of people will give FCP a try and also when the Macolites will finally be able to give Vegas a try.

I heard Sony was going to sell the software division to an upstart smaller company called Sonic Foundry (wink).

John

"Everyone in Madison is still showing up for work, Vegas, Acid, DVDA and SF Code"
Actually, DVDA team, headed by Brian Orr, is located right here in uptown Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Great bunch.

Oh,---and by the way.
I had lunch with Brian some time ago and he underscored the need to get feedback from Vegas DVDA users.
His words were something like, "we really want suggestions from the people who use DVDA".
Sounds like the door's wide open.
I'm sure the crew in Madison share that philosophy.

These aren't Grinchy nerds huddled over computers conspiring how to screw up Vegas and make us all miserable.
They're friendly nerds (juding from the one I met) with pets, parents and mortgages,----even hobbies!
They're doing their best to make Sony Vegas the NLE of choice for professional editors.
We wish them continued success, as our success depends on their's.
And Merry Christmas to you,--- Sony Claus,---and I'll get my list to you soon.
I'm at the same address!
We're leaving the front door open so you don't have to struggle getting the new flat screen TV down the chimney.
That was LCD and not plasma,----OK?
OK.
And yes, we're being good.
Except sometimes with Media Manager, I can be cross and say bad words.
But then again,---you know that!
Maybe a turotial for my stocking?
Ho Ho Ho!!!